Breath of Life Ventura Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic


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Ventura, California
United States
Breath of Life Ventura
70F / 21C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 25m 24s
Overall Rank = 136/422
Age Group = M 45-49
Age Group Rank = 10/26
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4:15 to drive to Ventura. Liz was racing as well--repeat of what was her first Oly last year.

Got set up early and had time to relax and take care of business.
Event warmup:

Had a chance to jog and stretch a bit...needed it. Tight quads from speedwork this week.

Got in a good pre-race swim.
Swim
  • 24m 20s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 29s / 100 yards
Comments:

Very wide starting zone on beach, so our wave (which was not large to start with) was well spread out by the time we were past the breakers. As usual, I set up well to the outside, but was able to move in toward the buoy line sooner than I typically do. First race in sleeveless wetsuit had me a little concerned as to how I'd handle the water temperature, but it was fine. (Only issue is the nuisance of the zipper pull cord wrapping around my armpit...never notice that with my fullsuit.)

Oddly enough, though some of us commented before the start about how it might be difficult to sight off the Coast Guard boat positioned by the first buoy given the swell, sighting was actually easier going out than coming back to the beach, where the main guide was a set of helium balloon that tended to be lost in the palm tree line when we were all the way out at the final turn buoy.

This course had to be extremely short. I felt like I had a good swim, but I'm very skeptical that I did a 1500m swim in under 1:30 per 100 yds.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, really. But the fact that the course had to be short is underscored by my supposedly averaging under 1:30/100 yet finishing 181st of 422. Not likely.
Transition 1
  • 03m 12s
Comments:

Both transitions are included in the bike split for this race, which is annoying. This time I was diligent about using my Timex IM watch to grab all my splits (including run from water to the mat entering T1), so I have accurate times for transitions.
What would you do differently?:

Not worn gloves. I always do (for a couple reasons), but this time I thought about skipping them. But I went ahead and wore them. Only takes--literally--a couple seconds to pull them on, but it's the time removing them in T2 that I'd probably like to have back.
Bike
  • 1h 11m 32s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 20.84 mile/hr
Comments:

Windier this year than last and it felt like the wind picked up during the second half of the ride. I got a little higher speed with my new bike than I put up here last year, but fell just a tiny bit short of my goal of averaging over 21 mph. I felt like I passed a few more people than I did last year, but I still have a ways to go with the bike.

During the first half of the race, I was feeling a lot of tightness in upper hamstrings. I tried to let that govern my effort to some degree: That was what did me in at my first international distance race last year and I didn't want that experience again. Felt more relaxed during second of the two big loops on the course, but I note that my speed dropped then, too.

I'd trashed the speed sensor for my wireless bike computer and am awaiting a replacement. So I wore my Garmin, but never looked at it. Decided to ride this one by cadence (since I didn't trash the cadence sensor). Managed to successfully hold between 88 and 94 for almost the whole race.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe push a bit harder the second half of the ride. Finished strong, but I was so concerned about not blowing up my hammies like I did at Desert Tri last year, that I may have taken it a little easy for part of the ride. That said, I could tell the wind was picking up a bit during the second half, so I was having to work harder when I was riding toward the beach then.
Transition 2
  • 01m 43s
Comments:

This went well enough. Not my fastest, but my no means my slowest.
What would you do differently?:

Not worn gloves on the bike. Didn't take long to remove, but I would have liked 3 seconds from somewhere in this race...see below.
Run
  • 44m 35s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 11s  min/mile
Comments:

Good run. I was a bit afraid I'd trashed my legs with speed work (run and bike) this week, but my time was identical to last year's for all intents and purposes. Wanted to be sub-45 and got it. As with last year, passed a ton of people and finished with a big kick. I can tell this was a stronger field than last year, though, by the fact that a handful more people passed me.

Achilles injury started to ache on second lap, but it didn't really slow me down.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, really. This was the only segment where I didn't beat last year's time, but given the volume of my peak IM training going on now and minor Achilles inflammation, I can't complain about basically equalling it.
Post race
Warm down:

Some jogging, some walking, some eating. Watched Liz come in...she hit her goal of sub-3 hours...very proud of her.

I'd thought I'd get in the top 10 in my AG if I got around 2:25 and I was right. Thought that'd be enough to get me an AG Nationals qualification. I was wrong. Top 33% (rounded) get in...there were fewer guys in my AG this year (big surprise) and I needed to finish 9th.

I missed 9th by 2.9 seconds. 2.9 seconds. Sheesh. Lots of places I could have picked that up, of course, but you can't know that going in or during the race. I was thrilled that I hit my goal time.

But next time I won't wear the gloves. ;)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not a lot. First sub-2:30 Oly and a PR by 7:17. I'd guess that the swim course was short by about 90 seconds worth of distance, so I'm sure I would still have easily been under 2:30 had the distance been right.

Event comments:

Really good race for a good cause. Flat course built for PRs. Free food and beer post race.




Last updated: 2009-03-07 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:24:20 | 1640 yards | 01m 29s / 100yards
Age Group: 10/26
Overall: 181/422
Performance: Good
22:19 in the water; 2:01 run to transition
Suit: Xterra Vortex 3 John
Course: Rectangular ocean swim -- long swim out to buoy (~700m), left turn to parallel shore for ~250m, then left turn in to shore. Very long run in sand over dune to transition.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 64F / 18C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:12
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:11:32 | 24.85 miles | 20.84 mile/hr
Age Group: 12/26
Overall: 176/422
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: 5.5 miles out from state beach along Harbor. Turnaround for 1.5 miles, then 2 x ~6 mile square loop. Return to beach.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering:
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:43
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:44:35 | 06.21 miles | 07m 11s  min/mile
Age Group: 5/26
Overall: 85/422
Performance: Good
Course: Out and back along beachfront path, x 2. Very flat.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too easy
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5